Italy Unveils Measures to Balance Budget

By

Christopher Emsden And

Stacy Meichtry

August 13, 2011

ROME—Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government unveiled measures Friday to balance Italy's budget by 2013, a year earlier than planned, by slashing €45 billion ($64 billion) in public spending in a bid to pull Italy back from the brink of the euro-zone crisis.

The measures, composed of tax increases and spending cuts, seek to retool a fiscal-tightening package the government passed in July that disappointed investors, driving Italy's borrowing costs up to euro-era highs. Nearly all the cuts contained in the...